Electrowetting-Based Variable-Focus Lens for Miniature Systems

The meniscus between two immiscible liquids of different refractive indices can be used as a lens. A change in curvature of this meniscus by electrostatic control of the solid/liquid interfacial tension leads to a change in focal distance. It is demonstrated that two liquids in a tube form a self-centred variable-focus lens. The optical properties of this lens were investigated experimentally. We designed and constructed a miniature camera module based on this variable lens suitable for mobile applications. Furthermore, the liquid lens was applied in a Blu-ray Disc optical recording system to enable dual layer disc reading/writing.     

Synthesis, Characterization, and Luminescence Properties of Anthrylpolyamines: An Experiment for an Integrated, Advanced Laboratory Course

A 10-week, open-ended experiment for a junior/senior-level integrated laboratory course is described. The project involves the synthesis and instrumental characterization of two monosubstituted and two disubstituted anthrylpolyamines of varying lengths, as well as a detailed investigation of their photophysical and photochemical properties in the presence of polyanions of biological interest. Depending on the nature of the polyanion, emission quenching of the anthracene chromophore occurs by a template-directed excimer formation, or by an energy-transfer process. A correlation between the charge of the protonated anthrylpolyamines and the degree of emission quenching is also investigated. This project is ideally suited for introducing students to different quenching mechanisms within the context of a research-oriented, integrated laboratory experience.     

A Hyland-Bernstein approach to the digital control of Pritchard-Salamon systems

In this paper we consider the fixed finite-order digital linear-quadraticcontrol of Pritchard-Salamon infinite-dimensional systems withunbounded input and output operators under gaussian disturbances.A set of necessary conditions is given in terms of the solvabilityof a discrete-time Hyland-Bernstein system of equations (twomodified Riccati equations and two modified Lyapunov equationscoupled by an projection operator).     

A Simple Model for the Variation of Permeability due to Partial Saturation in Dual Scale Porous Media

The main focus of this work is to model macroscopically the effects of partial saturation upon the permeability of dual scale fibrous media made of fiber bundles when a Newtonian viscous fluid impregnates it. A new phenomenological model is proposed to explain the discrepancies between experimental pressure results and analytical predictions based on Darcy's law. This model incorporates the essential features of relative permeability but without the necessity of measuring saturation of the liquid for its prediction. The model is very relevant for the small scale industrial systems where a liquid is forced to flow through a fibrous porous medium. It requires four parameters. Two of them are the two permeability values based on the two length scales. One length scale is of the order of magnitude of the individual fiber radius and corresponds to the permeability of the completely staurated medium, the other is of the order of magnitude of the distance between the fiber bundles and corresponds to the permeability of the partially saturated medium. The other two parameters are the lengths of the two partially saturated regions of the flow domain. The two lengths of the partially saturated region and the permeability of the fully saturated flow domain can be directly measured from the experiments. The excellent agreement between the model and the experimental results of inlet pressure profile with respect to time suggests that this model may be used to describe the variation of the permeability behind a moving front in such porous media for correct pressure prediction. It may also be used to characterize the fibrous medium by determining the two different permeabilities and the relative importance of the unsaturated portion of the flow domain for a given architecture.     

The 5v 3 bands of 18O enriched ozone: line positions of 16O16O18O, 16O18O16O, 16O18O18O and 18O16O18O

The four 5v ₃ bands of ¹⁸O enriched ozone have been observed and analysed for the first time. Two species (¹⁶O¹⁸O¹⁶O and ¹⁸O¹⁶O¹⁸O) belong to the C_2v symmetry group and two other (¹⁸O¹⁸O¹⁶O and ¹⁶O¹⁶O¹⁸O) to the C_s symmetry group. They have been recorded at a resolution of 0.008 cm^?1 with a pathlength of 32.16 m. Despite the very weak absorptions observed, almost 250 energy levels have been derived for each of the 4 species, with J ? 35 and K _a ? 13, and suitable sets of Hamiltonian parameters have been determined. For 3 species it has been necessary to account for the resonance between the (005) and (311) states to correctly reproduce the spectra observed. These resonances, anharmonic for C_2v, and hybrid (both anhar-monic and Coriolis) for C_s symmetry confirm the accidentally extremely strong coupling between the (005) and (311) states for ¹⁶O₃, due in that case to the very close distance between unperturbed energy levels. This work also confirms the excellent prediction of band centres of these four species derived from the recently determined isotopically invariant molecular potential function.     

The vertical spectrum of H2CO revisited: (SC)2-CI and CC calculations

The vertical electronic spectrum of formaldehyde has been studied by means of (SC)²-MR-SDCI and CCLR methods. Two basis sets of atomic natural orbitals (ANOs) complemented with a one-centre series of Rydberg orbitals were used. The first was taken from the CASPT2 study by Merchán, M., and Roos, B. O., 1995, Theoret. Chim. Acta, 92, 221, and may be described as C,O[4s3pld]/H[2slp] with a lslpld Rydberg series centred in the charge centroid of the ²B₂ state of the cation. The second was a larger basis set that may be described as C,O[6s5p3d2f]/H[4s3p2d] + 3s3p3d in the same centre. The (SC)² dressing may be applied efficiently to an MR-SDCI method and comparison with the dressed CAS-SDCI is satisfactory, in spite of the remarkable reduction in the CI space dimension. The consistency of the (SC)²-MR-SDCI results was tested also against the CCLR and CASPT2 results using the same basis sets and against the CCLR results using Dunning's aug- and daug-cc-pVQZ basis sets. The ³A₁(π → π *) state is correctly placed as the second excited triplet while the highly multi-configurational nature of the ¹A₁(π → π *) state is confirmed as well as its greatly mixed valence-Rydberg nature. This state is predicted as lying under the 10 eV level, on top of the (n_y → 3d) Rydberg states that are predicted in the 8.9–9.5eV region. The 5 ¹B₂(n^y → 4s) Rydberg state and the ¹B₂(σ_y → π*) also are predicted in this region. The triplet states also were calculated with the (SC)²-MR-SDCI method. The vertical ordering of the 2 ¹A₁(n_y → 3p_y) and 2 ¹B₂(n_y → 3p_z) states is discussed, as well as that of the ¹B₁(σ → π*) and the Rydberg ¹B₁(n_y → 3d_xy) states. This work shows the highly reliable values that may be reached applying the dressing method along with a large basis set. Such a procedure is made possible using an MR-SDCI selection of spaces instead of the CAS-SDCI that was used up to now in most (SC)² dressing applications.     

Virial coefficients and equations of state for mixtures of hard discs,hard spheres and hard hyperspheres

The composition-independent virial coefficients of a d-dimensional binary mixture of (additive) hard hyperspheres following from a recent proposal for the equation of state of the mixture (Santos, A., Yuste, S. B., and López de Haro, M., 1999, Molec. Phys., 96, 1) are examined. Good agreement between theoretical estimates and available exact or numerical results is found for d = 2, 3, 4 and 5, except for mixtures whose components are very disparate in size. A slight modification that remedies this deficiency is introduced and the resummation of the associated virial series is carried out, leading to a new proposal for the equation of state. The case of binary hard sphere mixtures (d = 3) is analysed in some detail.     

Ferrimagnetic coupling in oxamido-bridged Mn(II)Cu(II) compounds: a combined CASPT2 and DDCI study

Multiconfigurational perturbation theory (CASPT2) and difference dedicated configuration interaction (DDCI) are applied to study the ferrimagnetic coupling in an oxamido-bridged Mn(II)Cu(II) molecular species. CASPT2 reproduces the experimental coupling very well. From the partition of the CASPT2 energy, the most important contributions to the coupling are established. Spin populations are calculated with DDCI. The successive improvement of the N-electron wave function allows us to analyse the contributions to the spin delocalization.     

A Popov-theory-based survey on digital control of infinite-dimensional systems with unboundedness

This paper represents a Popov-theory-based assessment of thecurrent status of the digital control of infinite–dimensionalsystems with certain unboundedness in control and/or observation,summarizing some results and indicating which, in the authors'opinion, would be the promising directions for future research.